told about it: he went over with two others, placed the cross up, and
returned. But then there was such a thundering and cracking noise,
just as if it were cannons. The ice broke up and the elv came over the
fields and forest. It is true, every word I say!"

One of the travellers cited Tegner:

"Vildt Göta stortade från Fjallen,
Hemsk Trollet från sat Toppfall röt!
Men Snillet kom och sprängt stod Hallen,
Med Skeppen i sitt sköt!"

"Poor mountain sprite," he continued, "thy power and glory recede! Man
flies over thee--thou mayst go and learn of him."

The garrulous old man made a grimace, and muttered something to
himself--but we were just by the bridge before the inn. The steam-boat
glided through the opened way, every one hastened to get on board, and
it directly shot away above the Fall, just as if no Fall existed.

"And that can be done!" said the old man. He knew nothing at all about
steam-boats, had never before that day seen such a thing, and
accordingly he was sometimes up and sometimes down, and stood by the
machinery and stared at the whole construction, as if he were counting
all the pins and screws. The course of the canal appeared to him to be
something quite new; the plan of it and the guide-books were quite
foreign objects to him: he turned them and turned them--for read I do
not think he could. But he knew all the particulars about the
country--that is to say, from olden times.